Rome, Italy, Feb 5, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Fr. John Jenkins made his first trip to the Vatican last week as president of the University of Notre Dame, marking a new era in Notre Dame-Vatican relations.
In recent decades, university presidents have fostered relations with the Vatican and the different pontificates.
Trips like this, Campus Ministry Director Fr. Richard Warner told The Observer, help the Vatican "to see Notre Dame as the treasure it is for the Church."
For example, university president-emeritus Fr. Theodore Hesburgh had a personal friendship with Pope Paul VI, which began in 1960. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, later Pope Paul VI, joined President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Notre Dame's commencement ceremonies to receive an honorary degree. During his four-day stay, Cardinal Montini became good friends with Fr. Hesburgh. This friendship lasted into his pontificate, leading the pope to ask the Notre Dame to revitalize the International Federation of Catholic Universities and rewrite the universities’ constitutions.